Holden Elizabeth Plant turns 50

Today the 123 hectare site houses GM Holden's vehicle manufacturing facility. This flexible operation employs around 3,400 people and produces the Holden Caprice and Statesman, the top selling Calais, Berlina and Commodore range of sedans (all in right and left-hand drive configurations) and the Holden Ute for domestic and export markets. Established at an initial cost of _10,500,000, the Elizabeth site started life making hardware components including locks, mufflers, air cleaners, brake drums and mouldings. Today, Holden Vehicle Operations includes a press plant and metal assembly operation, body hardware facility, paint shop, plastics operation, body assembly and vehicle assembly operations.

In 2007, GM Holden's Elizabeth vehicle manufacturing operation produced 107,795 vehicles for domestic and export markets. More than 36,000 of these were exported under the GM brands of Chevrolet, Holden, Vauxhall and Pontiac to markets in Brazil, the Middle East, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the USA. Over $530 million has been invested in the site since 2000, making the plant one of the most advanced automotive manufacturing facilities in the world. 3,400 highly skilled employees work at Elizabeth in roles including manufacturing engineers, production operators, maintenance technicians and support services. Later this year, production will begin on the newest addition to the Holden range, the VE Sportwagon, as well as the Pontiac G8 GXP, a high performance Commodore-based car for the US market.